A Plea To All You Trolls

It’s currently holiday time for us UCT students & I’ve been making the most of the vac working, being productive & just generally making good use of the time. Jokes. That’s a complete lie, what kind of student is actually productive during vac?!

What I’ve really been doing is spending my time online, gaming & this is what led me to here. Writing an online plea to trolls. For those of you that don’t know, a troll is a human being who’s sole purpose, presumably, is to make everyone around them miserable in every way possible. You might have seen it on the ever popular (ashamedly so) 9gag posts where people just insult others unnecessarily, miss the point on purpose, excessively rude etc.

Well, in online gaming, they’re a lot more potent. Playing a game called League of Legends (don’t play it, it’s addictive & your marks will suffer), they are in abundance. As the game has over 30 million users, it’s inevitable that you come across them. Trolls cannot be reasoned with, resort to bad spelling & expletives as a comeback to logic & have no sympathy whatsoever.

“stfu n00b” “i am pro, so !?#^ you !@? your muthr n00b” “u mad bro?” “ur mom is ugly” – all common phrases thrown out by trolls. My faith in humanity constantly faces a dip when I come across them. Where’s the fun in making a game unbearable & unenjoyably for others?

So this is a plea to all the trolls out there. Stop it. If your girlfriend/boyfriend broke up with you, go talk to your parents, they have wisdom that will help you through it all. If there’s a school bully that’s making your life miserable, speak to a teacher or your parents about it & get help. If you hate people, join the club, we express it in more classy & productive ways.

Alas, I can already hear what trolls would be saying if they read this…

About Glenn Kisela

A self confessed bookworm, he loves to read. He also admits to being part of the gaming world. "Nothing makes me happier than running around with an oversized gun, shooting rockets at people and letting a few numbers boost my ego" - would be his explanation. He enjoys social events, watching more series than is good for his health, is an unashamed coffee addict & a lover of sushi.

http://www.facebook.com/david.horscroft David Horscroft

You’ve displayed a biased and truly negative view of a thoroughly stimulating way of life. Maybe don’t judge my people until you have walked fifty miles in our shoes; you’re just as bad as those you’re simultaneously damning.

Just because it seems that way doesn’t mean trolling is about making people miserable. It’s about sitting back, smiling, knowing that despite every instinct, every tiny feeling, you’ve resorted to causing conflict within a group, a person, or a scenario. It’s knowing that you have the mental acuity and flexibility to argue any point in a way to make the most staunch question their position.

Lost, I guess, is a good way to describe myself without it. It’s not just a hobby, or some immature teenage reflex to being diddled by daddy or unloved by mommy.

The art of trolling is far more than that. It is a way of life.

Game as I am to keep typing, I’d rather just tell you to read the first word of each paragraph.